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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26160751">Brutta Figura</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carriwitchets/pseuds/Carriwitchets'>Carriwitchets</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Just a girl and her very off-beat senpai, More pre-relationship than anything</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 13:14:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,022</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26160751</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carriwitchets/pseuds/Carriwitchets</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, Karin is more perceptive than Alina gives her credit for--even if that perceptiveness only shines through in that garbage she calls "art".</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alina Gray/Misono Karin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Brutta Figura</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Alina inspected her canvas, sneered, and tossed her charcoal down with a noise of faint disgust. It clattered against the paper of her sketchbook rather than the hard surface of the desk, and thus the noise she was hoping would come of her toss was muffled and entirely unsatisfying. With another noise of disgust, this one louder, Alina pushed herself out of her chair and began to pace the room.</p>
<p>Even for a genius such as herself, Alina was no stranger to art block. There were days where she did not connect with her theme, with the core of her artwork in a way that satisfied her. Her work was mediocre on those days, and she was always quick to burn it--often literally. She refused to share work that did not pass her own muster; she would be no better than her air-headed underclassman if she did that.</p>
<p>Alina looked up, her lips pursed. “Where is that <i>inseto nocivo</i>…?” she asked the empty classroom at large.</p>
<p>Karin’s station was there, her artwork and cheap pencils scattered across the desk in a mess that had no order to it at all. But the girl herself was nowhere to be found. Alina huffed, turning on her heel to begin to stalk the room again. Usually, Alina would have been thrilled to have the entire classroom space to herself, without a single person interrupting her concentration with their inanity. But right now, when inspiration would not strike, the silence was far worse than any chatter.</p>
<p>There was the hustle and bustle of muffled chatter and multiple feet outside of the classroom door, and Alina turned towards it expectantly, as if her irritated thoughts had summoned her underclassman. The noise moved right past the classroom, however, and the door did not budge, prompting Alina to toss her hands in the air with plain exasperation.</p>
<p>“Useless,” she muttered, stalking past the door and back again towards her own workstation. “Here is one time that I, Alina, could use that girl’s presence, and she cannot even be bothered to appear when she is supposed to.”</p>
<p>Her eyes fell upon her sketch, her expression tightening. It was technically perfectly sound; her lines were beautifully done, and the bold shapes on the paper drew the viewer in. She knew perfectly well that if she were to finish and share this, it would net accolades and amazement from those who saw it. But it did not mean anything. It did not show any of what her true beauty was. There was no point to it and thus it was absolutely useless to her. Alina huffed, reaching out for the artwork to tear it to shreds in a few long, quick movements. Those she left to flutter to the floor, Alina uncaring where they landed. With that taken care of, she still had no distractions to jump-start her creativity; Alina frowned, before she turned her attention to Karin’s workstation.</p>
<p>That would do.</p>
<p>Critiquing Karin’s terrible art and storytelling would undoubtedly be a good source of stress relief--and, perhaps, if she was lucky, it would kick-start her own far superior sense of inspiration and artistry. Alina stepped over to the desk, sweeping the pencils aside with a clatter that she didn’t pay any attention to. A few rolled under other desks or the shelving unit against the wall, but that was someone else’s problem, not hers. </p>
<p>The top work Alina had seen before; Karin’s project for the school fair was a long work in progress. She had already told Karin what she thought about that one, and the girl had sighed and returned to the drawing board for yet another go at it.</p>
<p>Karin was persistent if nothing else, Alina would give her that… but that didn’t matter right now. Alina wasn’t interested in that piece of artwork, and she shoved it aside unceremoniously, the pages teetering right at the edge of the small and already cluttered classroom desk. Beneath that were character concept sketches, works that were so riddled with classic and overused tropes that Alina was rolling her eyes even before she took a good look at them.</p>
<p>“Garbage,” she muttered, lifting the pages and shoving them into Karin’s open bag on her seat to remove the offending articles from her eyesight. Her fingers, still covered with charcoal, smudged on the paper, but Alina hardly even noticed. Beneath that garbage was Karin’s math homework--<i>tedioso</i>--and her planner. Alina was ready to give up, already half-turned away, when she spied the cover of what had to be yet another overwrought manga at the very bottom of the pile. Still, she had never seen this one, she was sure; if there was anything Alina knew, it was art that she had and hadn’t seen. This was new to her, and that in and of itself was unusual; Karin was not the deceitful sort and always shared her works with Alina, regardless of how Alina whimsically tore them to shreds.</p>
<p>Curious and eager now, Alina shoved the planner and homework aside, finally succeeding in toppling Karin’s initial manuscript off the desk, where it hit the ground and scattered in a mess of unsorted pages. Alina considered that for a moment before she shrugged to herself and hopped up onto the desk to inspect the new manuscript in her hands.</p>
<p><i>The Tip of Tomorrow’s Brush</i> was written across the top in florid lettering, over top a character wielding a paintbrush as if it was a weapon. The spacing wasn’t terrible, Alina thought begrudgingly, but that was about all that was good; she shook her head, and flipped to the next page.</p>
<p>Alina’s first thought as she flipped through the pages she voiced aloud, musingly, “Good, at least that <i>idiota</i> took my advice on the panels.”</p>
<p>Her second came a few more pages in, where she incredulously asked the empty room, “Is this main character intended to be based upon me? I, Alina, reduced to a mere manga protagonist?”</p>
<p>Alina’s initial reaction was offense as she paged through the roughly drawn out manga. The protagonist seemed to have no true nuance, no deep understanding of art; she used art as her weapon, which felt almost like a mockery of Alina’s true theme. And to think that she would ever be a cheesy protagonist was patently ridiculous…!</p>
<p>Yet even so, there was something about it that Alina could not simply toss aside and discard. One page had the protagonist swooping in to lecture a group of ne'er-do-wells on the importance of proper form in art before taking them down. Another had her tearing her works of art to pieces due to her own dissatisfaction. Yet another page had her taking a talking hamster home to protect as her pet. The dissonance between pages was striking, and Alina slowly lifted her gaze from the manga to inspect her latest work, still in ripped and torn pieces on the floor. </p>
<p>Her eyes narrowed.</p>
<p>This was how Karin saw her. There was no doubt about that; it was plain to be seen from these pages. Subtlety had never been Karin’s strength. Alina had never once cared about what anyone thought about her, so why… was she dwelling on these pages? She flipped through the pages again and then a third time. The work was short but a great deal of effort had clearly been put into it, despite Karin’s other deadlines. This wasn’t a work for any purpose; it wasn’t publishable, and Karin had never mentioned wanting to get any of her works published sans her pet project. So why…?</p>
<p>The door slid open to the classroom, the mangaka in question stepping in while humming to herself cheerfully. In her hands, predictably, there was a carton of strawberry milk. The humming came to an immediate halt as Karin froze in the entranceway of the classroom, taking in the destruction Alina had wrought on her belongings while she’d been gone.</p>
<p>“Alina-senpai, why did you throw all of my things around?” she asked with a gasp, moving towards the manuscript on the ground first, hastily trying to gather up the pages.</p>
<p>Alina considered the question and then decided she had no interest in answering it, so she ignored it. “What is this?” she asked instead, lifting the hidden manuscript, tapping its cover demandingly.</p>
<p>Karin hesitated. “Um… you weren’t supposed to see that…”</p>
<p>Alina stared at her, her eyes narrowing in a way that promised danger, and Karin squeaked in alarm. “It’s… a manuscript! I was working on it in my free time, so…!”</p>
<p>“Yes, clearly,” Alina huffed with a scoff. “Why is the main character based off of me?”</p>
<p>Now Karin looked properly embarrassed, flushing as she tapped the tips of her pointer fingers together, head bowed. “You could tell--?!”</p>
<p>Alina’s only response was an irritated noise at the waste of a question, and Karin grimaced as she straightened again, though her cheeks were still flushed red.</p>
<p>“I-it’s because you’re so amazing, senpai!” she blurted out. She was still on the floor, still staring up at Alina on her desk, her rumpled manuscript in her lap, but there was fierceness in her expression. “You’re so talented and mysterious! Sometimes you’re blunt or rude, sometimes you do things that scare me a little… but even so, I always see you doing things that are incredible. So I thought… if anyone could be a really great protagonist, it would be Alina-senpai.”</p>
<p>Immediately, Alina felt a flash of irritation, hot and unexpected. What did this girl know about her? Would she still be spinning this ridiculous yarn if she knew of her work with the Magius? Alina didn’t care what their goals were, but she knew the likely outcome. She could easily imagine the horror on Karin’s face, realizing that Alina had written everyone off to die for the sake of her art. Protagonist? She was nothing of the sort.</p>
<p>But… part of her was intrigued, too. Karin wasn’t stupid, though she could be an idiot about art. Something in her observations of Alina had produced this work, and she had clearly been watching her senpai quite closely. All of Alina’s mannerisms had been mirrored onto paper carefully, a character study almost as precise and exact as Alina’s own sketches of Mifuyu’s beautiful body. So why was this what Karin saw when she looked at her?</p>
<p>Alina, in lieu of a proper response, dropped the pages on top of Karin’s head; the other girl yelped, scrambling to grab them before those, too, scattered everywhere.</p>
<p>“<i>Idiota</i>,” Alina said, hopping off the desk with a sigh, her hand on her hip as she inspected the other girl. “Don’t base your art off of things you do not understand. Those works will inevitably be incomplete.”</p>
<p>Karin, clutching her work to her chest, pouted. “I do understand you, Alina-senpai! I understand you better than you think…! Even if, um, you are a little mysterious still.”</p>
<p>Alina was still irritated, but her curiosity was sparking to life even more fiercely now. She wondered if Karin really could possibly come to understand her or know her, and if she did, did that mean Karin herself would come closer to that beauty that was the theme of Alina’s works? It was a curious experiment with endless potential.</p>
<p>“Prove it,” Alina said simply.</p>
<p>Karin gaped at her, but recovered remarkably quickly, stammering, “I--I will! I’ll prove it to you, so just wait!”</p>
<p>“I, Alina, don’t wait for anyone,” came the simple response, Alina turning on her heel to leave. “So you had better work quickly.”</p>
<p>Karin watched her leave silently for a long moment, before she gathered her courage. “I’ll prove it faster than you’ll ever see coming! That’s my promise, senpai!”</p>
<p>Alina paused at the doorway to the classroom, a faint smirk playing about her lips and a hand at her face, loosely covering her eyes, before she opened the door to leave. The day had been more interesting than she’d first expected, and had borne unforeseen fruit. Now she only had to wait and see what would come of it. </p>
<p>Unexpectedly, Alina was looking forward to it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Written for the <a href="https://twitter.com/DestiZine/status/1297655439694409733">Shared Destinies Magia Record</a> fanzine, which is free to download and filled with amazing art and fic from a lot of talented folks! So definitely go check it out to get your magireco fix.</p>
<p>A bit of a sad day to post a fic all things considered with the game, but what can you do--I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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